The same Islamophobic bloggers and pundits that influenced Norway killer also influence Congress

In light of the Oslo attacks, it is important to pause and contemplate what sparked this event, and indeed where such hatred comes from. One thing is clear: this in no way occurred in isolation.

It was a disconcerting coincidence that an article on the front page of Monday’s New York Times coincided with a sensationalist event entitled “Homegrown Jihad in the USA: Culmination of the Muslim Brotherhood’s 50-year History of Infiltrating America,” presented by Citizens for National Security (CFNS), located in Boca Raton, Florida and sponsored by U.S. Congressman Allen West, a Republican from Florida.

In fact, the Times article reported on the strong influence of a group of American bloggers on Anders Behring Breivik’s–the man accused of the Oslo massacre–decision to bomb government buildings and kill so many innocent civilians. His 1,500-page manifesto spoke directly to the alleged failure of Norwegian politicians to protect the nation from the spread of nefarious Islamic influence. His manifesto, which cites Robert Spencer’s blog, Jihad Watch, an astounding 64 times, should serve as a reminder of the terrifying influence of right-wing extremism in a world of online media.

CFNS is part of this xenophobic network of ideologues to which Breivik subscribed. Eli Clifton at Think Progress has done great work on unpacking the influential forces behind the manifesto, revealing the frequency in which Breivik cites alleged counter-terrorism experts and Islamophobic bloggers and pundits in justifying his views. Breivik’s manifesto cites Daniel Pipes, a board-member of CFNS, and his think-tank, The Middle East Forum, eighteen times. Pipes’ blog features a variety of extreme, ultra-conservative gems of articles on the Middle East and a whole spectrum of important political issues, such as his confirmation of President Obama’s Muslim identity that lists the President’s “ties to Islamists,” or his plan for Palestinian-Israeli peace, which essentially calls for Israel to wage relentless violence on all of its potential adversaries in order to achieve its national goals. Pipes also thinks up clever phrases to describe his ridiculous assessments of the world. My personal favorite, Sudden Jihad-Syndrome, refers to cases “whereby normal-appearing Muslims abruptly become violent.” The most atrocious aspect of this blatantly racist and ignorant phrase is that, since Pipes coined it, it has appeared on an increasingly widespread basis.

What’s particularly frightening about all of this—the event, Daniel Pipes, Breivik’s manifesto—is not that right-wing radicals exist. That’s not news to any of us. But we should take note of the political influence these lunatics somehow manage to have, and the fact that our nation’s Congresspeople support events like “Homegrown Jihad in the USA.” Ignoring these trends would be dangerous.

The goal of the CFNS event was to present an “in-depth, 18-month long research project” revealing the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in America. The presentation’s first slide, “THE WAR IS REAL,” introduced the “one-sided war” the Brotherhood has waged against America and the West for the last 50-years. Graphic representations of intricate networks of Muslim Brotherhood “affiliates”—a cast of super-nefarious organizations like the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society, and the North American Islamic Trust—allegedly show the extent to which the Muslim Brotherhood has not only infiltrated America but has transformed every Muslim-American into a raging terrorist, intent on waging “jihad” (a term undefined by the speaker of course) against the West, threatening the “inherently secular” nature of the American political climate (this statement was then contradicted, or perhaps unintentionally retracted, by the speaker after I posed a quite simple question regarding his opinion on the potential threat of other groups that conflate religion and politics, like Evangelical Christians or even lobbying organizations like AIPAC).

Even more bizarre than the “in-depth” research project is the absolute absence of citations or statistics in the pamphlet distributed at the briefing. The only citation is from the Center on Law and Security at NYU which offers graphical representation of prosecutions of “homegrown terrorists.” The goal was to show a linkage between “homegrown terrorists” and “Islam,” clearly to vilify Islam to such an extent that CFNS’s hideous conflation of Muslim and Terrorist would seem somehow grounded in scholarship or reality. In this clear misappropriation of important academic data, CFNS used a statistic about prosecution of terrorist activity to implicate the Muslim Brotherhood and Muslim-Americans in general.

And what are we to make of the database of 6,000 names generated by CFNS’s “in-depth research?” When asked whether or not the names on said database were based on action or association, the speaker paused, and then confirmed that all individuals (and organizations, for that matter) marked as linked to the Muslim Brotherhood (and identified as alleged threats) were listed solely based on (unproved) “affiliation” rather than “terrorist activity.” The prospect of Congress having access to a database of 6,000 names of allegedly dangerous individuals is alarming and should serve as a red-flag for the possibility of violence against the American-Muslim community. If this isn’t McCarthyite, I’m not sure what is.

CFNS’s rhetoric should not be taken lightly. Although many of the attendees at the conference only came to witness its absurdity and get a free lunch, some took heed to the ludicrous message CFNS was trying to convey. The presence of Islamophobia in America and on a global scale is certainly alarming. The identification and data-basing of Muslim students should be a warning sign. This is not benign hatred. When an American politician sponsors an event clearly grounded in racism, anti-Muslim rhetoric and fear-mongering, conscientious individuals and organizations aimed at fostering understanding at peace should take action.

Karina Piser is an intern with New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force.

43 Responses

“His [Daniel_Pipes] 2003 nomination by U.S. President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace was protested by Democratic leaders, Arab-American groups, and civil rights activists, who cited his allegedly rightist views and oft-stated belief that force was the most effective remedy to conflict.”
– from link to en.wikipedia.org

U.S. Institute of Peace?

That should be renamed to:

U.S. Institute of warmongers.

or

U.S. Institute of We want Peace when everybody we disagree with is dead.

You all go to extreme lengths to state that the actions of the violent jhadists and Palestinian terrorists have nothing to do with Islam and Muslims as a whole, yet you all jump over each other in your haste to tie this lunatic into those who have legitimate viewpoints about the dangers of certain elements within Islam and the Muslim world.

Sock puppet. This is guy made an account SPECIFICALLY to defend Islamophobia. “Jihadi literature” my ass. The article cites nothing of that you liar.

God, but are the right wingers out to defend the “All Muslims are terrorsists!” talking point now that we’re starting to see the reaping of what they’ve sown, vis-a-vis right-wing violence, extremism and race hatred.

skandall, had there not been so many muslims set up for crimes they did not commit (holyland) or alleged crimes they were allegedly about to commit or crimes they were set up for i would be more inclined to take this info at face value. but just the fact he tried to get out of the military, then was arrested for pornographic stuff, then went awol..then tipped off by an ammo store because he bought a gun and ammo while being muslim (kinda like driving while black)..there’s just enough here to make me question the scenario as it’s presented. and CSM said :

Details about a Muslim-American US Army soldier arrested with guns and explosives near Fort Hood, Texas, remain sketchy.

“A Muslim is not allowed to participate in an Islamicly unjust war,” he told ABC News last August.

last august? so, he was already in the news..possibly an embarrassment, possibly already ‘watched’ and on some list..possibly a target of investigation.

ABC News is reporting that Abdo allegedly planned to bomb a restaurant popular with Fort Hood soldiers then shoot the survivors with a pistol. (Based on information from a defense department official, CNN describes this potential arsenal as “gunpowder, shotgun shells, 18 pounds of sugar, a pressure cooker, four magazines, and ammunition.)

iow, these are not reporters gathering this info, this is info distributed by defense dept officials. i’m just waiting for more info. it isn’t fair to judge this situation based on the last massacre. that said, if it’s true then it is excellent he was stopped. the likelihood of his confessing..not so sure. where was his lawyer, did he have one? sometimes people confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

This ‘lunatic’ (I’d call him a terrorist as his objectives were clearly of a political nature) read all the pathetic conspiracy theories over at Jihad Watch, Brussels Journal, Fjordman’s Blog and all the other right-wing and extreme right-wing sites, and took them for granted. As Karina has indicated here, shady and often extreme right-wing organizations such as the euphemistically called “Citizens for National Security” really are not a good basis for factual, non biased report.

If “Citizens for National Security” is so concerned about US national security, then why does it research Florida K-12 public school textbooks for texts which it believes puts Israel in a bad light?(1) Never mind their historical accuracy, the “Citizens for National Security” wants texts changed, texts which have nothing to do with the security of the US. And they go at great lengths to give themselves and their ‘research’ legitimacy’ so it appears it’s a factual intelligence report.

“I can’t show you this report” says Dr. William Saxton founder and chairman of “Citizens for National Security” when meeting a reporter for an interview, “[t]his is very valuable research, and we have to be careful with the way we reveal our information”. (2) Rrrright. Never mind they had the report in PDF form on their website for a month already.

But the right-wing blogs loved the story and they all ran it eagerly, completely unaware they had just been duped with propaganda to further zionism, not to protect the US of A. “Citizens for National Security in Israel” would be a more appropriate name.

Not surprisingly, Daniel Pipes is on the Advisory Board of “Citizens for National Security”.

“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.”

lli – are we to suppose the actions of violent zionists and zio-terrorists is based off judaism as well? a world conversation will happen sooner then later on (the elephant in the room) certain elements of judaism expressing terrorism regularly on those who don’t happen to agree or fit in with the zionist agenda… what are the ziofacists unwilling to acknowledge on a regular basis? – they are terrorists.. more folks are seeing this in the world and want to address it directly… this guy from norway is on the zioterrorists side unfortunately for the zionists…that has to be viewed in a negative context for maintaining any shroud over zioterrorism, and its friends round the globe…

How about – calls for a crackdown on freedom of speech on the grounds that a homicidal maniac in Norway quoted some ideas we all disagree with? Anti-fascists quickly tried to use the event to panic the police into classifying their opponents as terrorist. Hardly anyone on the left has resisted the temptation to use the guy’s apparent sympathy with Zionism as well as white nationalism to link the two in order to condemn the first. We have to do better than this transparent opportunism.

Re the Islamophobes, Justin Raimondo has a very important piece looking into Breivik’s finances, and ending with Geller’s publication of an email she received from Norway and deliberately anonymized to protect the sender BECAUSE it claimed they were stockpiling weapons, ammunition etc:link to original.antiwar.com
The writer also said that whatever happened would happen suddenly.
Why on earth aren’t either Homeland Security or the FBI all over that woman???

This is probably one you’d like, as a concerned vet:link to angryarabscommentsection.blogspot.com
Very interesting documentary about a German doctor and his work exposing the appalling injury to soldiers and civilians alike from the use of depleted uranium, and how others attempted to prevent the knowledge becoming widely available. I managed to watch 5 of 6 parts. Must be pre-Gaza onslaught, as it wasn’t mentioned. Starts with two affected UK vets of Bush Sr’s first Gulf War and their children.

Peter King made perfectly clear the other day that he will “not back down” from continuing to hold his hearings despite the efforts of Dems on the committee to broaden the focus to other terrorist activity. “Let me make this clear to the New York Times and their acolytes in the politically correct media. I will not back down from holding these hearings,” King said at the outset of his current hearing on radicalization in America’s Muslim communities, which is now trained on the threat of Al-Shabaab recruitment of American citizens, which, according to investigators, has now lured some 40 Americans.

I was against the holding of these hearings for three principal reasons: 1) because I believed that they were the wrong venue in which to address the serious problem of radicalization in the Muslim community, 2) because public hearings tend to degenerate into partisan, political theater and thus encourages theatrical behavior from questioners and witnesses alike who are eager to score political points, and 3) because I believe that they will do far more harm than good, and will contribute nothing to our understanding of the problem. These hearings, to date, have confirmed my worst fears on all three points. They have been even worse than I imagined they would be.

How could anyone have thought otherwise? Did anyone think that Republicans would miss an opportunity to tar Dems with being soft on terrorism, or that Dems would similarly fail to use the hearings to paint Republicans as racist, Islamophobic reincarnations of Joe McCarthy? I have no doubt that some truly believe that the holding of these hearings will address the problem of radicalization and educate the public about it. But the holding of public hearings on such a contentious issue, while feasible in theory, is in practice an endeavor fraught with unseen and unforeseeable perils. To hold public hearings in the full glare of the media spotlight focused on the activities of one religious group will inevitably bring with it the impression, both here and abroad, that the religion is being unfairly persecuted, whether that is really being done or not. It will set a collision between those who passionately see the danger of the problem of radicalization on the one hand, and those who just as passionately feel compelled to defend those whom they see being victimized unfairly. There will be a dialogue of the deaf between both sides ending in the usual recriminations and partisan posturing, and the air will grow thick with charges, counter-charges, and media-generated hysteria. The result will be to obscure rather than to increase understanding of the problem. This is exactly what has happened at these hearings.

But that there is a problem of radicalization in some of America’s Muslim communities there can be no doubt. Democrats have coyly denied the problem, asserting that the hearings should also focus attention on other violent extremist groups like the KKK and others, and that a failure to do so indicated an unfair bias against Muslims. They cited a statistic stating that of the 125 domestic terror plots that have occurred since 2001, “only” 45 involved Muslims. Therefore, Dems argued, Muslims could not be said to be involved in the majority of the plots. But what this ignores is that Muslims make up less than 1% of the American population, and that over 1/3 of all the plots can thus be attributed to a religious group comprising less than 1% of the population. Do Dems really believe that this is not a problem? Other domestic extremist groups, repugnant and occasionally violent though they are, do not consort with a well-financed, world-wide terror network and therefore do not pose a national security threat to us at home or to our allies or interests abroad the way that radical Muslim extremists like Al-queda do. Think not? Consider then: the Justice Department attributes 80% of all international and domestic terrorist convictions since 9/11 to defendants driven by a radical Islamic agenda, and that they are defendants in 186 of the 228 cases the Justice Department lists. Though, it must be said, those involved in terrorism are but a tiny minority of the American Muslim population, these figures show a disproportionate problem of militancy and radicalization within that minority. It is an unfortunate, unhappy state of affairs, but there it is.

At the very least, part of the problem is the leadership of the Muslim community, which ill serves American Muslims. L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca, who testified about his dealings with the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) and other Muslim American organizations back in March, impressed me as an honest and forthright individual, but his stated unawareness of the group’s longstanding involvement and support for Palestinian terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, is troubling, and points to another problem: the credulousness of well-meaning local law enforcement unknowledgeable about Radical Islam and unfamiliar with the warning signs of radicalization.

However, contrary to what Congressman Chip Cravaack (R-Minn) said at the first hearing, CAIR is not a terrorist organization. Yet, the problems illustrated by CAIR and other assorted groups can be seen in the trials of the Holy Land Foundation, which funneled some $12 million to Hamas under the guise of “charity,” and that of university academic Sami al Arian, who for years posed in countless media interviews as a peaceful, non-violent activist but was found to have been actively involved in the planning and financing of suicide bombings for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In both trials, evidence was introduced to show that groups like CAIR, ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), and MAS (Muslim American Society) were founded by, and regularly front for, Palestinian terrorist groups and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, and in 2009 the FBI ceased associating with CAIR saying it “cannot consider CAIR a reliable liaison partner until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR and its executives and Hamas.”

Said Judge Moody at al Arian’s sentencing: “You are a master manipulator. You looked your neighbors in the eyes and said you had nothing to do with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This trial exposed that as a lie. And yet, still in the face of your own words, you continue to lie to your friends and supporters, claiming that you abhor violence and seek only aid for orphans and widows. Your only connection to orphans and widows is that you create them, even among the Palestinians; and you create them, not by sending your children to blow themselves out of existence. No. You exhort others to send their children. Your children attend the finest universities this country has to offer while you raise money to blow up the children of others. You are indeed a master manipulator.”

The trials of the HLF and al Arian, among others, show the extent to which CAIR, ISNA, and the MAS, whom American Muslims look to for leadership, regularly cavort with Palestinian terror groups, and have engaged in blatant propaganda for them. Yet, instead of facing and condemning these troubles in their midst, CAIR and the others respond with disingenuous denials and legalistic evasions and counter that the real problem is the racism and Islamophobia in American society and the direction of American foreign policy. Of course, they also blame the Jews. In this enabling and obfuscating they are aided and abetted by much of the political left. This denial of the militancy in their midst is unhelpful to all concerned. The honest, patriotic majority of Muslim Americans who look to CAIR and others for leadership deserve much, much better.

We are hardly much better served by Republicans like Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) who show their intemperate zeal and ignorance of Islam when they state that the real threat to America is the “danger of Sharia law subverting our constitution.” This whole idea, propagated by Gingrich, Bachman, Beck and some others in the Tea Party crowd, is preposterous. These are the true Islamophobes. This is blatant, xenophobic fear-mongering, pure and simple.

Then there is the problem of Peter King himself. He has in the past been a ferocious partisan for the Irish Sinn Fein/IRA, a pioneering terrorist group whose legacy is as brutal and bloodstained as that of Hamas, Hezbollah, or Al queda and who has taught them much about their trade. King defended the IRA, responsible for 1826 of the 3528 deaths in the Irish “Troubles” between 1969-2001, as “a legitimate force battling British oppression.” This is pure propaganda. Since the creation of the Irish free state in 1922, the peoples of Northern Ireland have, by large majorities, made clear their unmistakable preference for continued union with Great Britian. The real obstacle to the ambitions of the IRA, then, was not “British oppression” but the free, democratically voted preference of the peoples of Northern Ireland. This was why they had to resort to indiscriminate terror against the British and the Unionist Irish as well as members of their own Catholic minority. Just as most of the victims of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al queda are overwhelmingly Muslims, so too are the victims of the IRA mostly innocent Irish men and women.

Yet King was unfazed by all this. In the early 80’s he stated: “We must pledge ourselves to support those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry” and “if civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not blame the IRA for it.”

Compare these remarks to those of CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad in 1994: “I am in support of the Hamas movement.” In 2000: “They [the Jews] have been saying ‘next year in Jerusalem’. We say ‘next year to all Palestine.'” In 2001 about Hamas suicide bombings: “The Palestinians are using legitimate means of resistance. We should not be shy about it, and we should not be apologetic about it.”

Somebody please tell me, what is the difference?

Both King’s and Awad’s remarks betray the shamelessness of their moral relativism. Terrorism is the use of violence and murder to advance a political or religious objective or agenda. Either it is always wrong or it is never wrong. This moral disintegration of means to ends is one of the key features of terrorist groups as they wade ever deeper into bloodshed, and this abandonment of any moral criteria is in some ways a prerequisite for their effectiveness. Dostoyevski made this point brilliantly in his great anti-terrorist novel The Devils. The character Verkhovensky, seeking advice on how to be an effective terrorist, is told by the diabolical Stavrogin: “Persuade four members of your group to murder a fifth, on the pretext that he is an informer for the police, and you will at once tie them all up in one knot by the blood you have shed. They will be your slaves.” Only fear and depravity can thus unite them in their grisly tasks, and none can be an effective terrorist who retains the basic elements of a human personality and a conscience. In the House of the Dead Dostoyevski also wrote: “Tyranny is a habit, and develops finally into a disease. The habit can kill and coarsen the very best man to the level of a beast. Blood and the power to kill intoxicate….The man and the citizen die with the tyrant forever; the return to human dignity, to repentance, to regeneration, becomes almost impossible.”

We thus face a grave and serious problem that the King hearings, and xenophobic legislation and self-serving propaganda about “Sharia law” will not address and help us to understand and solve. I have a suggestion: create a bipartisan, blue ribbon panel of former office holders and law enforcement officers and agents knowledgeable about the matter of Muslim radicalization, have them quietly and dispassionately investigate the matter and then release a report of findings and recommendations. This would seem to be far wiser than these hearings, from which little good and much harm has flowed.

And there is no need to rush. This should be done carefully, quietly and patiently. As Fred Astaire said to Ginger Rogers before one of their dances, just relax, and don’t make any mistakes.

I have a suggestion: create a bipartisan, blue ribbon panel of former office holders and law enforcement officers and agents knowledgeable about the matter of Muslim radicalization, have them quietly and dispassionately investigate the matter

yeah, let’s all quietly and dispassionately be racists, that will solve everything.

But that there is a problem of radicalization in some of America’s Muslim communities there can be no doubt. Democrats have coyly denied the problem, asserting that the hearings should also focus attention on other violent extremist groups like the KKK and others, and that a failure to do so indicated an unfair bias against Muslims. They cited a statistic stating that of the 125 domestic terror plots that have occurred since 2001, “only” 45 involved Muslims. Therefore, Dems argued, Muslims could not be said to be involved in the majority of the plots. But what this ignores is that Muslims make up less than 1% of the American population, and that over 1/3 of all the plots can thus be attributed to a religious group comprising less than 1% of the population.

maybe you have had your head under a rock for the last few years and missed the specific focus and targeting of muslims. of course there will be more alleged ‘plots’ if they are digging for them and setting them up, that is the whole point of nails when all you have is a hammer.

–“Under the guise of defending freedom and American values, right-wing anti-Muslim activists are campaigning to prevent Muslim-Americans from freely worshiping and practicing their religion, curtail their political rights, and even compel their deportation. A growing faction in the American Right claims that Muslim-Americans, who comprise just 1% of the population, are subverting the Constitution and taking over the country. These accusations have helped to foster anti-Muslim hostility, reflected in the rise of anti-Muslim prejudice and increased attacks on Muslim-Americans and houses of worship. Tied in with hatred of President Obama, fear of religious diversity and hostility toward immigrants and gays, anti-Muslim rhetoric and paranoia has become a mainstream if not ubiquitous part of the conservative movement and the Republican Party.”

This is true, but I think the extent to which it has gone mainstream is debatable.

–“ The anti-Muslim paranoia that has swept the conservative movement rests on the claim that Muslim-Americans represent a “fifth column” working to bring about America’s downfall. With sweeping and cutting rhetoric, anti-Muslim activists claim that all or nearly all Muslim-Americans support terrorism, violence, the abuse of women and the abrogation of American law and ideals. As in previous generations when minority religious, ethnic and political groups were demonized, the end goal of vilification is to sanction and encourage persecution – while scoring political points for those peddling irrational fears.”

This is also true, but David Yerushalmi, David Horowitz, Pat Robertson, Frank Gaffney, and Herman Cain all belong to the “creeping Sharia” right-fringe crowd along with the others that I spoke of. They are not in the mainstream, and wield little power.

–“ Anti-Muslim activists frequently take quotes from Muslim scriptures out of context to reflect badly on Islam. “One of the most common mistakes made in cross-religious conversations is that people end up comparing the loftiest and noblest aspects of their own tradition with the most hideous aspects of others,” writes University of North Carolina professor Omid Safi. “A common ploy by Islamophobes is to go to a predictable list of verses in the Qur’an and the words of Muhammad and to argue that these verses –with no context, no interpretation, and no alternative set of verses — represent the essence of Islam for all eternity, no matter what Muslims may say or why they may protest.”

This is also absolutely true, and I have addressed this before.

–“ Attacks on CAIR and other groups continue. During the first set of King hearings, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN) said that CAIR is “basically… a terrorist organization.” Rep. King and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) have consistently railed against CAIR and demanded prosecution of the organization’s leaders. Brigitte Gabriel’s ACT! for America (formerly American Congress for Truth) urged Congress to investigate CAIR, calling it “an enemy organization operating within our midst,” and accusing CAIR of supporting Osama bin Laden and acting “as a front for terrorist organizations inside America.”

You will notice that I addressed Cravaak’s slander in my post, but Annie, CAIR has got serious issues to deal with, and many documented illicit ties. What is not mentioned here is that the FBI has ceased dealing with CAIR because of those illicit ties with Hamas. As I said, American Muslims who look to CAIR for leadership deserve better than this, and we do them no favors by denying the problems in CAIR’s midst.

–“ One of the more absurd claims employed by anti-Muslim activists is that American judges are being compelled to follow Sharia law (or Islamic law) and that Muslims are advocating the creation of Sharia courts in America. Despite the lack of any evidence to back up these claims, anti-Sharia paranoia is spreading. Oklahoma passed an anti-Sharia law by popular referendum in 2010, and numerous other state legislatures are poised to pass similar legislation.”

This is true, and shameful.

–“ With unintentional irony, anti-Muslim activists demand the country strip Muslims of their freedoms in order to defend freedom for all. Criticizing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for pledging “a return to robust civil rights enforcement and outreach in defending religious freedoms,” Gaffney argued that “radical Muslims have proved adept at using such rights to thwart legitimate surveillance and other countermeasures by law enforcement,” and therefore those rights should be dispensed with.”

This ain’t gonna happen. Bet on it. This is another Islamophobic fringe effort.

–“ Anti-Muslim activists must somehow reconcile their claim that they are actually protecting freedom in America with their efforts to restrict religious freedom for Muslim-Americans. Their audacious solution: to claim that Islam is not a religion, but a deadly political ideology.”

This too is put up by right fringe figures like West and the ACLJ.

–“ Anti-Muslim activists argue that because Islam is not a religion, Muslim-Americans are not protected by the First Amendment’s religious liberty provisions. In the worldview of anti-Muslim activists, American Muslims intend to use, or abuse, America’s freedoms to empower their own “totalitarian” ideology. Gaffney writes: “Our enemies are using our tolerance of religion to create an infrastructure of mosques here that incubate the Islamic holy war called jihad” as part of a “stealthy ‘civilization jihad’ in this country.”

There is truth in this, and more than I would care to admit. Anti-mosque building efforts appear to be increasing. This is troubling.

–“ Republican politicians and anti-Muslim activists frequently attack President Obama by playing into fears that he is a secret Muslim who is using his presidency to weaken America.”

True and Shameful.

–“ According to anti-Muslim activists, Americans and organizations that defend the rights of Muslim-Americans are knowingly complicit in terrorism and are surreptitiously working to undermine America.”

Well, there are certainly some on the far left who are, in my view, a little too willing to wink at extremist/terrorist sympathetic rhetoric and activity, but tarring them all as complicit in terrorism is, of course, wrong.

–“ Conclusion. The Muslim-American community is a growing and integral part of the extraordinary fabric of America’s peaceful pluralism. According to law enforcement officials, Muslim-Americans have been an essential source for information and collaborative efforts to prevent and punish extremist violence. Yet in a destructive and cynical ploy to stir divisions for short-term political gain, anti-Muslim activists and the politicians who lead or cheer on their efforts are undermining American values and devaluing the First Amendment, which protects the religious liberty of all Americans.

While anti-Muslim activists hope that Americans take their mischaracterizations of Islam at face value, events like the King hearings represent a valuable opportunity for Americans to speak out against the hatred and vitriol that has become all too commonplace in American politics. If anti-Muslim activists succeed in fostering a government-led assault against the rights and freedoms of the Muslim-American community, we will have a country that is less secure and less free.”

I agree completely, but, by the same token, let us not deny the small fraction of those extremists and terrorists in our midst. They are threat not only to Americans but to American Muslims everywhere. Let us by all means be vigilant against the Islamophobes, xenophobes, and hate and fear mongers, but let’s not forget about the real problem of Muslim extremism too, OK?

Werdine, now let’s apply all your reasoning about disproportionate malignant influence to the Jewish Establishment in America. Oh wait, that’s already been done; it’s why those folks call the USA ZOG. Don’t we also need to create a bipartisan, blue ribbon panel of former office holders and law enforcement officers and agents knowledgeable about the matter of institutional Jewish radical influence on American values, have them quietly and dispassionately investigate that matter and then release a report of findings and recommendations? I suggest Carter, Mearsheimer, Walt, Baird, Mitchell, and Freeman head up the blue ribbon panel. OK?

Well, Citizen, I suppose that would be appropriate if 45 of the 125 domestic terror plots since 9/11 involved radical Jewish extremists, and if the Justice Department attributed 80% of all international and domestic terrorist convictions since 9/11 to defendants driven by a radical Jewish agenda, and if they were defendants in 186 of the 228 cases the Justice Department lists. Then, I suppose, we could have mssrs Carter, Mearsheimer, Walt, Baird, Mitchell, and Freeman do their panel. OK?

So what? You respond, and pound your gavel, and that closes the matter? To respond or dispute is not to disprove or refute.

“humping your Islamophobia?”

This is not only slanderous and vulgar, it is pathetic. You can trot out my non-existent Islamophobia to your hearts content, but it doesn’t win you your argument. In fact, I’m not even sure you recognize that there is such a thing as radical Islam. Said you:

“radical Islam is something shoved down Americans throats on a regular basis. We are fed a diet of ‘fear Islam’ and if you don’t believe me try googling around. now try the same for ‘radical Zionism’.”

If i am quoting you out of context here, then I beg your pardon. If not, then this statement of yours, which denies the existence of a dangerous phenomenon, is troubling. To address and correct the real Islamphobia out there is one thing, but to actually deny the existence of radical Islam, and to denounce the entire apparatus of intelligence, investigation, and prosecution of violent, radical Islamist activity in this country as an expression of racism and Islamophobia is preposterous. This is as fringe a position on the left as anything advocated by David Horowitz or Pat Robertson. If you think this kind of denial is of benefit to American Muslims, you’re wrong. Dead wrong.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how how cynically and dishonestly the subject of “Islamophobia” is used and abused here. What better way to shut down any rational discussion of anyone’s argument or views than to wave the bloody shirt of “Islamophobe” or “racist.” That will do the trick. Every time. It sucks all of the air out of the discussion and instantly focuses odium on the those who are so accused; it sticks, it stinks, and it works. The accused, now wrongfooted, will then protest their innocence, to skeptical and doubtful notice, while their accuser retains the initiative and the momentum from attention to the charge. It also saves the accuser the trouble of making an argument themselves. That’s nice. Keep up the good work. Better than facing reality, I suppose.

Werdine, quit spreading your Islamophobia. annie took care of you on July 29th last, when she told you:

“…. maybe you have had your head under a rock for the last few years and missed the specific focus and targeting of muslims. of course there will be more alleged ‘plots’ if they are digging for them and setting them up, that is the whole point of nails when all you have is a hammer.”

And quit confusing usage of the term “Islamophobe” or “rascist” with the tactical Zionist usage of the term “anti-semite” to suppress honest discussion.

We have a special US federal agency dedicated to smoking out anti-semitism anywhere in the whole wide world although I don’t remember any Jewish concentration camps ever existing in the USA.

What we need is a new federal agency dedicated to smoking out Islamophobes in DOD & Homeland Security and in our Congress. Now THAT really would serve the American interest big time.

“Werdine, quit spreading your Islamophobia. annie took care of you on July 29th last, when she told you: “…. maybe you have had your head under a rock for the last few years and missed the specific focus and targeting of muslims. of course there will be more alleged ‘plots’ if they are digging for them and setting them up, that is the whole point of nails when all you have is a hammer.”

Yes, I know, Annie has made the nails/hammer argument before. Someday it is going to occur to you people that there is a difference between bald assertions and arguments buttressed by facts and evidence.

Of course, there’s much to be said for this method of discernment. It is of a piece with most of the other standard vernacular of the anti-anti-terror left. Just deny that there is any such thing as violent radical Islam, deny that it’s a problem despite overwhelming data, evidence, and testimony, and just smear anyone who says otherwise as an Islamophobe. That’ll work. It’s cheap, swift, and economical, and saves you the hassle of contending with those tiresome stats that, as we all know, are all rigged anyway.

And mind you: be sure to observe no distinction whatsoever between those who are truly Islamophobic and those who are careful to draw distinctions between violent Islamic terrorists like Hamas, Al-Queda, and Hezbollah on the one hand, and the overwhelming majority of the hundreds of millions of decent, peaceful Muslims on the other. After all, how could anyone think Hamas to be a violent, genocidal, cut-throat terrorist group and not be an Islamophobe, or perhaps something even worse?

All of this will be of immense benefit to American Muslims, and will no doubt shutter real Islamophobes like Robertson and Horowitz into silence.

Like I said, keep up the good work. It’s better than facing reality, I suppose.

oh come off it. don’t give me this hamas bs.we’re talking about domestic violence. the overwhelming data, evidence, and testimony, and there are reports chronicling this, is that there is a witch hunt going on by the fbi and facilitated by congress, and all these ‘terror experts’ (that are anything but) giving law enforcement seminars all over the country, targeting muslims. you’re the one who’s tiresome. go peddle your islamophobic rhetoric elsewhere.

According to the FBI, Muslim-Americans were responsible for just 6% of all domestic terrorist attacks from 1980 to 2005. Latinos were responsible for 42% of terrorist attacks, left-wing extremists for 24%, and Jewish extremists for 7%. Yes, that’s right, Latinos and Jews have committed more domestic terrorist attacks since 1980 than Muslims (LoonWatch).

Since 9/11, America has drastically increased its terrorism against Muslims living overseas, thus fueling an increase in anti-American Islamic terrorism. Despite this, the number of terrorist attacks committed by Muslim-Americans is still relatively low. Last year, for instance, 10 Muslim-Americans were suspected of planning domestic terrorist attacks; of them, just one, Faisal Shahzad (aka the Times Square Bomber) actually carried out his plot, which, we all know, failed. Let me repeat that: last year, one Muslim-American attempted an act of terrorism on US soil. One. One attempt, zero deaths (Duke).

By contrast, 20 non-Muslim-Americans were suspected of planning domestic terrorist attacks last year, including right-wing suicide terrorist Joseph Stack, who flew a small plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas, killing himself and an innocent bystander, a father and grandfather named Vernon Hunter. Richard Cohen points out that, “when measured against ordinary violent crime,” the threat of Muslim-American terrorism “is slight” and that “the threat from non-Muslims is much greater” (Washington Post).

don’t forget the terrorist who gunned down people at the congresspersons rally in arizona. and what about columbine? do they even call that a terrorist attack? if he was muslim they would have, but one of the killers was part jewish. is that is considered a jewish terrorist attack? no, nor should it. this whole terrorist lingo is muslim centric for a reason.

Klebold had jewish ancestors on his mother’s side. The day they chose for their killings was Hitler’s birthday. The killers discussed their motives on a tape, along with their methodology and killing plan. The police have never released the tape to the public, citing fear somebody would copy their killing methods and plans. There’s no doubt here that if one of the two had Arab/Muslim background that data would have been plastered on front pages everywhere and linked to terrorism.

From what I read, their core motives, as distinguished from their rationals, were feelings of both superiority and inferiority, the latter linked to the apparent fact that most of the US student body didn’t pay any attention to them–apparently, they weren’t subject to any abnormal bullying etc, considering they were in an American high school wherein few escape an episode or a few of such things.

If you’re a rightwing Islamophobe in the US or Israel, you don’t have to support terrorism in some private retail way. You pay taxes and some of that money goes towards violence against Muslims.

This is the fallacy in all the comparisons of Western rightwingers to their counterparts in the Muslim world when people claim Muslims are more likely to support “terrorism”. Violent tendencies naturally manifest themselves in different ways. Of course someone like Breivik doesn’t think Western governments are doing enough to make the lives of Muslims (and “cultural Marxists”) miserable, so he goes into the terrorism business himself. But the average Islamophobe sees no reason to engage in activities that will lead to jail or death for himself when he can vote for politicians who promise to kill or oppress Muslims in perfectly “legal” ways. It’s couch potato terrorism.

On Monday Jeffrey Goldberg added a bizarre and nearly incomprehensible note to a highly controversial post at The Atlantic. The note sought to explain and justify an earlier, unacknowledged revision to the piece whose effect had been to make him appear less foolish. He maintains that he misled readers inadvertently by accidentally deleting the word “UPDATE” from that revision. His account was far from adequate and refers to obscure technical difficulties. Goldberg even said that he couldn’t really understand what had happened as he repeatedly revised the post the previous Friday. He promised to look into his electronic trail to figure the situation out.

Since then, however, Goldberg has added nothing to his garbled explanation. It should be a simple matter to extract from The Atlantic’s servers a record of his updates to that post, if in fact it would corroborate and clarify his flimsy account. As things are, Goldberg stands accused of deliberately doctoring a post to mask how outrageous his original post had been. Prominent journalists such as Jay Rosen have called him to task. And yet four days later Goldberg still has produced no evidence on his own behalf. His colleagues at The Atlantic remain silent as well.

There are detailed descriptions of this scandal here and here.

The facts as I understand them are as follows:

Last Friday afternoon Goldberg posted a two-paragraph screed, “Mumbai Comes to Norway,” blaming the attacks unequivocally on Islamic terrorists. When events demonstrated how reckless he’d been, Goldberg added a third paragraph raising the possibility of right-wing terrorism. By not labeling this as an update, he left readers to conclude that he was just exploring multiple theories rather than using the massacre to make a bold pronouncement about the worldwide jihadist danger. Later that evening, beginning around 8 PM, Goldberg began adding 4 further paragraphs on stray thoughts, each of which he did carefully label as an “UPDATE”. At the same time he also added “(UPDATED)” to the title. So he was capable of noting updates when there was nothing to be gained from not doing so.

On Saturday, Goldberg posted a roundabout defense of his decision to rush to judgment, “On Suspecting al Qaeda in the Norway Attacks.” It is characteristically disingenuous, particularly about what he had written in “Mumbai”.

On Monday, when he learned (via James Fallows) that I had found cached evidence that he’d made those unacknowledged changes to “Mumbai”, Goldberg hurriedly added another update to the post. This was the aforementioned bizarre explanation for not having labeled the first revision as an ‘update’. It is so ridiculous it really needs to be seen to be believed.

The Atlantic needs to address this disgrace. The ‘Mumbai’ post was reprehensible to begin with. The doctoring of it is a further scandal. Goldberg’s ridiculous excuse-mongering makes matters worse. His refusal to apologize for any of it is worse still.

And as if that weren’t shameful enough, his colleagues at The Atlantic have some answering to do for ignoring or excusing all of this. On Saturday James Fallows called for the Washington Post to apologize for a Jennifer Rubin post that, like Goldberg’s, used the Norway attacks to propagandize about Islamic terrorism. His call was seconded by two other Atlantic writers. But none of them has so much as mentioned Goldberg’s reprehensible “Mumbai” post. In correspondence, Fallows bobbed and weaved when pressed about holding Goldberg to basic journalistic standards.

So will Goldberg and The Atlantic ever properly address this bundle of scandals?

Pam Geller “edited” an e-mail from a Norwegian Atlas Shrugged reader but the Internet Archives snagged a cache of it. In 2007 she received the following e-mail from a Norwegian that sounds surprisingly like Breivik:

Well, yes, the situation is worsening. Stepping up from 29 000 immigrants every year, in 2007 we will be getting a total of 35 000 immigrants from somalia, iran, iraq and afghanistan. The nations capital is already 50% muslim, and they ALL go there after entering Norway. Adding the 1.2 births per woman per year from muslim women, there will be 300 000+ muslims out of the then 480 000 inhabitants of that city.

Orders from Libya and Iran say that Oslo will be known as Medina at the latest in 2010, although I consider this a PR-stunt nevertheless it is their plan.

From Israel the hordes clawing at the walls of Jerusalem proclaim cheerfully that next year there will be no more Israel, and I know Israel shrugs this off as do I, and will mount a strike during the summer against all of its enemies in the middle east. This will make the muslims worldwide go into a frenzy, attacking everyone around them.

Before, I thought about emigrating to Britain, Israel, USA, South Africa, etc. for taxes and politics, but instead (although I believe we are the very last generation on earth before the return of God) I will stay and fight for the right to this country and indeed the entire peninsula, for the God-fearing people, just in case this isn’t the end of the world after all. Doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan.

It’s far from impossible to achieve, after all my people has done it every time before, in feats that match the ancient greek, hebrew and british “legends”.

Oslo and the southeast may fall easily, but there are other lines than “state”-borders drawn across this country since long before there was even a single muslim in the world, and we have held them this long, against everyone else too. We are entering a new golden age for my people, and those of a handful other countrys, but only through struggle.

Never fear, Pamela. God is with you too in this coming time.

That’s what it looks like now but this is what the Internet Archive shows the original to be with the deleted text in bold. Note that the pronoun is first person plural.

Well, yes, the situation is worsening. Stepping up from 29 000 immigrants every year, in 2007 we will be getting a total of 35 000 immigrants from somalia, iran, iraq and afghanistan. The nations capital is already 50% muslim, and they ALL go there after entering Norway. Adding the 1.2 births per woman per year from muslim women, there will be 300 000+ muslims out of the then 480 000 inhabitants of that city.

Orders from Libya and Iran say that Oslo will be known as Medina at the latest in 2010, although I consider this a PR-stunt nevertheless it is their plan.

From Israel the hordes clawing at the walls of Jerusalem proclaim cheerfully that next year there will be no more Israel, and I know Israel shrugs this off as do I, and will mount a strike during the summer against all of its enemies in the middle east. This will make the muslims worldwide go into a frenzy, attacking everyone around them.

We are stockpiling and caching weapons, ammunition and equipment. This is going to happen fast.

Before, I thought about emigrating to Britain, Israel, USA, South Africa, etc. for taxes and politics, but instead (although I believe we are the very last generation on earth before the return of God) I will stay and fight for the right to this country and indeed the entire peninsula, for the God-fearing people, just in case this isn’t the end of the world after all. Doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan.

It’s far from impossible to achieve, after all my people has done it every time before, in feats that match the ancient greek, hebrew and british “legends”.

Oslo and the southeast may fall easily, but there are other lines than “state”-borders drawn across this country since long before there was even a single muslim in the world, and we have held them this long, against everyone else too. We are entering a new golden age for my people, and those of a handful other countrys, but only through struggle.

You can detect the startling impudence of the Islamophobic bloggers in “bare naked Islam ” or “Atlas Shrugs” where you read bluntly some headlines in red : The Norwegians who listned to the pro jihadist lefts deserve what happened i.e”They deserve the killing of the teenagers who were camping peacefully ,and their unforgettable mistake was to hold a banner saying ” Bocott Israel – In Scandinavian script” .Anyone all over the globe who ever doesn’t coincide with the barman’s policy (who became minister of exterior) in Tel av iv,then he is an anti-Semetic Jihadist collaborator and deserves murder,while the killer is pointed to as an “idiot”if he was to be blamed without mentioning the malicious soil which breeded this type of savage killers.When a Muslim does something wrong these bigotted bloggers mention his religion and his beliefs ,but never they say it’s an isolated incident or the Muslims do not agree on his bad deed.Here I quote some of the culprit’s thoughts” Mr. Breivik believed that there would come a time when people in Europe would turn to violence. “I think we will see the first real signs of European resistance or even armed resistance within 10-15 years in certain European metropolitans”.(WashingtonTimes July 2009)

While claiming not to support the mass-murder, Geller nonetheless sees its logic:

Breivik was targeting the future leaders of the party responsible for flooding Norway with Muslims who refuse to assimilate, who commit major violence against Norwegian natives, including violent gang rapes, with impunity, and who live on the dole… all done without the consent of the Norwegians.

More here, and the citation of a sentence where she decried race-mixing at the sumer camp.

Her key argument, such as it is, rests on the fact that these camps were virulently opposed to the Gaza war and to the West Bank settlements. Increasingly, the far right government in Israel is the rallying point for the far right Christianist movement in Europe and the US. From Sarah Palin’s Israeli flag to Mike Huckabee’s celebration of West Bank settlements, the civilizational war is no longer Christianity vs Islam, it is Judeo-Christianity vs Islam. And the focal point for the apocalyptic clash? Israel.

I wonder when Israel was founded if its leaders ever dreamed of a day when their most stalwart allies for Greater Israel would be neo-fascist movements in Europe. There are ironies and then there are tragedies.

I agree. The phrase “Never Again” is increasingly being shorn of any universal value applicable for any group of humans subjected to the rogue powers of any state or aggregate of them in the name of Judeo-Christian Values. Goering & Goebbels must be laughing their heinie offs from their suicide graves. And from his, Adolph must be egging on these Christian & Jewish Zionists/fundies. Apocolocypse Now!

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